Updated AHL Rules - October 2022

ARMCHAIR HOCKEY LEAGUE RULES & GUIDELINES
October 17, 2022

*** The Commissioner has the ability to override any matter that contradicts the spirit of the league, at his discretion regardless of the rules set out below.

Dedication
these rules are dedicated to our families, friends outside this league; various loved ones, and all others who somehow come into our realm at innocuous times who have no understanding or our passion of the game and our league and simply thinking we’re off our rockers! Bless them always with love and patience (lots of it) especially during the hockey season.

TABLE OF CONTENTS RULES

1. The Game and Schedule
2. Teams
3. Protected Rosters (Pre-Draft)
4. The League Draft
5. Supplemental Draft
6. Pick-ups
7. Line-ups
8. Transactions
9. Trades
10. Playoff rules
11. Salaries, Contracts, Fees, & Prizes
12. General Information
13. Team Ownership Contraction & Expansion
14. Trade Disputes
15. League Commissioner


1 – THE GAME & SCHEDULE

1.1 - All teams are placed in one conference. During the regular season each team plays an equal number of head to head games, which will be released at least as soon as possible.

1.2 - The league schedule during a normal NHL season will consist of 66 regular season games and 21 playoff games. When the NHL season is shortened, we will adjust per what we can create per the revised NHL schedule.

1.3 - All league games typically will occur when there are 7 or more NHL games played on a given date. In a given year, there may not be a sufficient number of nights with 7 NHL games being played and at the discretion of the Schedule maker, he will select 6 game nights required to complete the schedule. There will be 3 safety dates for emergency use pre-assigned at the end of the playoffs.

1.4 - The playoffs consist of 3 rounds in a best of seven series played in a fixed 7 / 7 / 7 format. The first game of the second round will be playoff game 8, and the first game of the third round will be playoff game 15, regardless of how quickly the preceding rounds finished. In the first round of the playoffs, the 1st place team plays the 8th place team, the 2nd place team plays the 7th place team, etc. Round winners proceed to the following round retaining their rankings where the highest plays lowest.

1.5 – In the playoffs the higher regular season ranked team will always have the advantage of their choice of the use of a TEMP GOALIE TEAM.

1.6 – The Game is played by inserting a Line-up from your team consisting of a GOALIE TEAM and a maximum of 6 FORWARDS and 4 DEFENSEMEN versus an opponent’s Line-up. The team with the higher score wins the game (or tie’s – subject to tie-breakers).

1.7 – Scoring is calculated in the following manner - Goal 1 point, Assist 0.5 point, Goals against -0.5 point (Goalies can accumulate goals and assists also). Official stats source is NHL.com. Backup ESPN.

1.8 – Overtime Player – During the Regular Season, if there is a tie score at the end of a game night, the player in your line-up that has accumulated the most NHL points is compared with your opponent’s best player. The Player with the most NHL points wins the game night.

1.9 - During the regular season, only one OT Player is used. For the playoffs, if a game is tied after the 1st OT then the 2nd best Player is compared, etc. until a tie is broken.

1.10 – Regular season OT Player points are calculated by using NHL standard point system, i.e., Goals -1 point and Assists – 1 point.

1.11 - All protests must occur within 48 hours of the scoring or trade event posting.

1.12 - A team gains 2 points for a Win and 1 point for an overtime loss

2 - TEAMS

2.1 - Each team has a yearly budget known as “pool money” that will be used for trades and paying for players & goalies salaries. A team’s yearly budget cannot ever fall below $50 at any time due to trades.  Implemented for the 2022 Draft and moving forward, teams are allowed to go down to $45 in order to buy out contracts prior to the draft.

2.2 – Rosters will be maintained by the League Secretary and emailed out on a timely basis.

2.3 – At the very start of a season (at the end of the Draft), each team MUST consist of a 25 NHL eligible players and 1 NHL goaltending team and up to 2 prospect players on their protected roster (who have 40 or less NHL games played).

2.4 – Supplemental Draft: Each team after the draft will be able to add 5 more eligible players and they may be kept for a maximum of 30 players and 2 prospects.

2.5 – When submitting your supplemental draft choices to the league office, you have a player limit of 25 submissions

2.6 - In the event a team mistakenly goes over the 30 player limit, the league secretary will contact that team manager and they will inform them immediately which player they will be releasing into free agency.






3 - PROTECTED ROSTERS – (PRE-DRAFT)

3.1 - Prior to the Draft, managers may sign, buy-out and cut players from their existing rosters. Players that are signed are considered protected. The Protected Roster submission occurs roughly 1 week prior to the Draft date. The remaining vacant spots will be filled at the draft.

3.2 - Managers must email their protected roster to the league official in charge by the preset date established each year (usually within a minimum of 5 days prior to the draft date).

3.3 - If a Protected Roster is not submitted by the date and time required, the team will be fined $5.00 of that year’s budget.

3.4 - No Transactions are permitted between the protected roster date and the completion of the main Draft.

3.5 – If a team is Cutting (also known as Dropping) a player with a signed contract, effectively BUYING OUT the contracted player, a team will pay an amount equal to half of his remaining contract cost (rounding up to the nearest quarter) and subtracting it from the team’s upcoming Draft budget. If the contract is 2 years in length, each half will be taken from each contract year.  (Ie, if a player has 2 years left at $2 and $2.50, the manager $1 will come out of year one’s budget and $1.25 will come out of year two’s budget.  

3.6 - PLAYERS SIGNING IN THE KHL - NHL players that sign and leave to play in the KHL can be dropped at no cost at any time.

3.7 – If a player who has a contract announces his retirement, a team, at their option, can immediately drop the player at no budget cost, no matter the length of contract.


4 - THE LEAGUE DRAFT

4.1 – The Draft day will be held on a set date (usually within 7 to 14 days prior to the 1st regular season game ~ usually a consensus practical date).

4.2 – In the event that you cannot attend you may send a representative to the draft (could be a current manager) or draft remotely via the internet.


4.3 – The current league Champion commences the Draft by nominating a player and his opening salary bid. Managers, in clockwise manner, in turn increase the bid in increments of a minimum of $0.25 until one manager has bid a maximum price that no other manager is willing to increase and that player then becomes property of the winning bid’s manager. Once a manager “passes” on a nominated player’s bid, the manager is immediately out of competition for that player’s services. The manager to the left of the league Champion then nominates and the process continues until a manager’s team is complete.

4.4 – Managers have 30 seconds to nominate a player otherwise they will incur the wrath of all other managers! After 30 seconds, a manager MUST nominate a player regardless if that is the player they want or not. In other words, please be prepared out of courtesy for all managers. Additional time will be granted to the league scribe recording the draft if the scribe is also an active manager.

4.5 – At completion of the Entry Draft, a manager’s team must have EXACTLY 25 players (no required ratio of forwards and defensemen) plus a Goalie Team and the option of 0 or 1 or 2 juniors who have not played 40 NHL games.

4.6 – If there are any remaining budget pool dollars, those pool dollars are lost and cannot be used in subsequent years.

4.7 – Retired players are ineligible to be nominated. NOTE that if a retired player comes out of retirement, e.g. Mario Lemieux, his pick-up status will be subject to approval by league Commissioner. As in Mario Lemieux, the Commissioner has ruled that no one could pick-up the player.

4.8 – To be eligible for the Draft, a player must have their rights owned by an NHL team.


5 – SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT

5.1 – The Supplemental Draft occurs after the Entry Draft where this is solely ONE ROUND of pick-ups. This allows managers to Pick-up players from the un-drafted pool of NHL eligible players.

5.2 – A manager may Pick-up players via a sealed bid. A transaction cost of $1.00 in real world dollars (for the bulk pick ups) plus the amount bid in real world dollars.

5.3 - The highest bid wins and that bid amount becomes the player’s contract value. If 2 managers bid on the same player and have the equal bid salary amount, the manager that finished higher in the previous season’s standings will win the sealed bid auction.

5.4 - Managers may bid on a limit of 25 players. Note that rosters must be reduced to legal league limits prior to Game #1, i.e., 30 Players and 1 Goalie. Furthermore, a team may exceed team limits in between games but must have a legal roster limit prior to a game start.

6 – PICK-UPS

6.1 – Player pick-ups can occur any time during the regular season up to the Pick-up Deadline.

6.2 – The Pick-up Deadline is the last day that players are eligible to be acquired and occurs on a date set prior to the start of the AHL regular season.

6.3 – Pick-ups are acquired from the unsigned pool of NHL players.

6.4 – A Pick-up player’s contract that hasn’t been selected in the Entry Draft or Supplemental Draft or a Buy-out is $1.00.

6.5 – Acquiring a player whose contract cost was determined via the Entry Draft, Supplemental Draft, or a Buy-out is the player’s 1st year’s contract value and are considered in their option year.

6.6 – A manager may Pick-up any eligible NHL player from the unsigned pool during the regular season. This does not mean you can Pick-up an NHL player in the Minors/Juniors/Europe/etc.

6.7 – Pick-ups occur on a first come first served basis.

6.8 – Any Player that was cut after the draft is only eligible to be Picked-up on the first Tuesday following the start of the League Season at 6 PM.

6.9 - NO PICKUPS of ANY kind are allowed after the Supplemental Draft until after the 1st game of the AHL season has commenced.

6.10 - Players dropped during the season cannot be picked up until after 6PM the following day.

6.11 - A player that is picked up off the waiver wire must remain on your team for at least 1 AHL game before they can be cut.



7 – LINE-UPS

7.1 - A manager must submit a player line-up consisting of a maximum of 1 goalie team, 4 defensemen, and 6 forwards from their roster.

7.2 – The player in your line-up who performs the best will be designated as your Overtime Player and will be used as a tie-breaker if it is required.

7.3 - Your line-up must be submitted no later than 5 minutes after the start of play of the first NHL game of that date. The league game starts precisely at the commencement of the first NHL game for that date. (If the first NHL game of the day starts at 7pm, you’re lineup must be in no later than 7:05pm

7.4 – A no Line Up team will AUTOMATICALLY lose the game.
*for score keeping purposes, he will be given a 0 score*

7.5 - Should your line up submission occur late, your line up will be treated as a non-line-up.

7.6 - You are under no obligation to submit a full line-up. Should you elect not to submit a goalie your team will automatically be accorded the worst NHL goalies of that date regardless of their owned status.

7.7 – If more than one manager is in need of TEMPORARY (TEMP) GOALIES (un-owned Goalie Team) and if the 2 teams are playing head to head, then the manager who put in the first line-up (i.e., the last line-up change is the time of the change – known as PREFERENCE) will get the GOALIE TEAM. If two or more teams require Team Goalies and aren’t playing head to head, they both can use the same Goalie Team.

7.8 - Players will be considered by the official scorer in the player sequence the manager listed them. Ex., if 5 defensemen are named, only the first 4 will be considered, using the order they are listed, even if you only name 5 forwards.

7.9 - In the event that there are no goalie teams available to be temped a team will be deducted –2.5 points for goalies, (5 goals against). If there is a goalie team available you MUST select them or you will be accorded the worst NHL goalies of that date. If you and your opponent both need goalies and select the only goalies available the first complete line-up gets the goalies. The second lineup loses –2.5 points against.

7.10 – OT Player in the regular season – A team’s Overtime player is the best player in their line up with the most NHL points (where goals and assists are valued the same). (See Playoff section for Playoff OT Tiebreakers).

7.11 - If the League Site is down prior to you submitting your lineup or making a lineup change, the manager must immediately contact his opponent & the official scorer (and if they are the same, also a commissioner), with at least one contact being prior to game time and the other immediately after, BOTH by phone and via email leaving your lineup/lineup change(s). Furthermore, the affected manager and at least one contacted manager) must immediately post the same as soon as possible on the site with a new message and indicating who he contacted. If you decide to leave your lineup until the last minute and you’re caught in traffic or simply forgotten, you are SOL.

7.12 - A lineup change made within the original lineup posting message past game time start time is treated as a late lineup and assigned a 0 score.

*** Rule of thumb, on game day, post lineup change(s) in a separate posting(s) otherwise you run the risk of a 0 score. Keep it simple for the Scorekeeper.
PLAYER IN : xxxxx
PLAYER OUT : xxxxx

8 - TRANSACTIONS

8.1 – All trades during the regular season incur a cost of $2.00.  Pick up’s and drops are free.   Off season trades incur a cost of $1.00.

8.2 – See Section 3.5 for cutting/dropping a signed player.

8.3 – Score keeping will be shared by all managers. A work schedule is part of the Roster spreadsheet and will be posted on the web site for each season.

8.4 - A player picked up during the regular season must remain on your roster for a minimum of 1 AHL game.

9 – TRADES

9.1 – Trading of player(s) and budget pool dollars can occur at any time except between the dates of Trade Deadline date and after the end of our league’s playoffs.  Trades also cannot occur between the submission of your protected roster prior to the draft and the start of the first AHL regular season games.  Prior to the draft, trades may include any player(s) on your current roster and/or “pool money” for the current or following year only. In each pool year starting with the 2014/15 season there is a limit of $5.00 in pool money that can be traded from one manager to another manager. During the regular season, trades may include any player(s) on your current roster and/or “pool money” for the next and/or subsequent year. Thus, trades involving “pool money” must be paid within the next two league years. As a result of a trade you may have less than the maximum number of players allowed, however if you have more than the maximum number of players allowed you have until the start of the next league game to rectify the situation or the league will do it for you. (SEE – TEAMS Section 2).
9.1-1 – As of the 2020 / 2021 AHL season, players that are drafted or have a contract over $10 in pool money can be traded for a maximum of $7.50, but only after game 33 of the AHL schedule.

9.2 - In the event a trade puts a team more than 10% in signed contracts over its budget for the following contract years, the trade will be declared null and void.

9.3 - The Trade Deadline is will end on a date and time agreed upon prior to the AHL draft. No trades can be made after the trade deadline date and until the end of the league playoffs.

9.4 - Any owner may dispute any trade – see section 14 for this process.

9.5 - A team’s roster is considered frozen after the end of the regular season when absolutely no transactions can occur until after the end of the Playoffs.

9.6 – A Manager can trade an injured player but must advise the recipient manager that the player is injured. It’s up to the recipient manager to accept an injury or investigate the depth of the injury prior to a trade, otherwise, the player is yours - Buyer beware.

Clarification of Trade notification to the site - One manager must post the transaction prior to the scheduled deadline (prior to game time/trade deadline time) OR NOTIFY the Scorekeeper (also the record keeper) who can post the message AND another manager (SIMILAR to the site being down), while the 2nd manager can notify after the requisite time. The "after" is solely due to that manager not being near a computer to post (life at times gets in the way).


10 - PLAYOFF RULES

10.1 - The Highest Seeded team has first choice for TEMP GOALIE’S.

10.2 – Playoff matches are 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5 according to their season’s point’s finish. Winners are ranked at all times according to their regular season’s point’s finish for each playoff round.

10.3 - Tiebreakers in the playoffs are considered in the following priority:
Each team’s best total points player will be compared with each other counting each goal and assist as 1 point. If it remains tied, OT’s continue to the 2nd best player, etc., including goalies until a winner is declared.

b. If 13.4-1 does not provide an overtime winner, then each team’s best player will be compared counting EACH GOAL as 1 POINT and EACH ASSIST as 0.5 points. If a tie remains, then the 2nd best players are compared, etc. including goalies until a winner is declared.

c. If everything ends out tied, we then use lowest goalie score and then the default winner if still no winner has been declared will be the team who was the highest seed.

11 – SALARIES, CONTRACTS, FEES, and PRIZES

11.1 - Each team starts a year with a preset, indexed budget of $60. This amount may be changed due to trades. A team may never go below a $50 budget (except when buying out players when submitting your final roster for the draft – at that time a team can go down to $45). A player’s first year salary is the amount bid on him. After that point his future contract depends on his performance during his option (last) year as per his real world record (see Formula below – PPG ranking) at the end of the season as follows:

Goalies cannot be kept
Juniors / Protected Roster Players hold their Contract Value

Defensemen Roll Forward as Follows:
The Top 7 get 40% Increase then 20% and 20%
Players Ranked 8 to 40 get 30% then 15% and 15%
Players Ranked 41 to 80 get 20% then 10% and 10%
Any player after Rank 80 has no Change
Defensemen Roll Forward as Follows:
Forwards Roll Forward as Follows:
The Top 10 get 40% Increase then 20% and 20%
Players Ranked 11 to 65 get 30% then 15% and 15%
Players Ranked 66 to 130 get 20% then 10% and 10%
Any player after Rank 130 has no Change

Players who played less than 20 games automatically go up 10% (15 games for Short Seasons below 55 games)

Dropped and picked up players retain their contracts for the duration of the current year.
Contract lengths may not exceed 3 years.
Signed players are subject to ranking but are not subject to salary re-qualification until their option year.

A PLAYER’S RANKING IS BASED ON POINTS PER GAME (PPG) where a Goal counts as 1 pt and an Assist as 0.50 pt from their real world points (PPG=(Goals + (Assists/2))/Games Played).
The Byfuglien Rule: A player, in his option year, will be ranked at the position he was designated for at the start of the completed season by official NHL standards (see NHL.com rosters), but when signed for a new contract, albeit for one year to the maximum term, will be placed on a yearly basis at the position he has played the most games at in the following years. (Loosely, in a current year, he plays at the position he 1st started at. In the following year, in review of the previous year, he will be placed at the position he played the most games at).

11.2 - FEES
Annual entry fee $100
Trades $ 2.00
Off-season trades $ 1.00
Pickups No charge
Supplemental Draft Day pickups $1.00 + $ amount bid
Drops & Temp Goalies No charge

11.3 - PRIZES
1st overall $ 125.00
2nd overall $ 100.00
3rd overall $75.00
4th overall $ 50.00

Based on a 12 team league:
1st Round playoff winners $50.00
2nd Round playoff winners $75.00
The Toilet Bowl will be played by the round 2 Losers and the winner gets $50.00

In the Finals, The loser will receive $150.00
The League Champion will receive $300 and all remaining funds generated that season (Transaction Fees).


12 - GENERAL

12.1 - All rule changes will be submitted by managers only in the offseason during the months of July & August. The league will then vote on all rules changes prior to September 1st.

12.2 – The league will vote on all rules changes, with a rule change only occurring if a majority vote has been received. Example in a 12 team league 7 votes will be required to change a rule.

12.3 – If a majority vote has occurred causing a rule to change, that rule will take effect immediately that coming season.

12.4 - The statistician will use NHL.com with a backup of ESPN as the official source of stats and posts scores on the website. The primary stats source is final even if it’s wrong. The statistician records W/L/T, keeps player rankings, provides league standings, and provides player games/points at year-end. Any challenges to the statisticians scoring must occur within 48 hours from the Statisticians scoring report. Challenges to the statisticians scoring may only be for perceived errors not because of differences in statistical sources.

12.5 - THE JUNIOR PLAYER ROSTER Eligibility
1- Any player whose rights are owned by an NHL team.
2- The player must have played 40 or less games in the NHL before the AHL League draft. i.e. he still qualifies as an NHL rookie
3- If your Junior Player surpasses his 40th game played he still will remains on your junior protected roster until the offseason.




Process for moving players to the junior protected roster
1- Before the draft starts you may designate up to 2 qualified players from your keeper list.
2- During the draft you may draft and designate any qualified player.
3- By the end of the regular draft you have a choice of having 0 or 1 or 2 qualified players on your Junior Protected list.
4-Once the draft is finished the junior protected roster is closed for that year. The Supplemental pickups are not eligible for junior protection.

12.6 – Various:
- No discussion about rules or regulations on Draft Day. Draft Day is Draft Day ONLY.
- All New or revised Rules to be discussed in the offseason and VOTED on prior to next draft.
- Transaction – if not properly documented. It is up to the GM to rectify own problem within 7 days.
- No off season trades until our playoffs are completed.
- Any player that has had an NHL affiliation can be drafted on Draft Day
- All managers must pay their fees owing to the league on Draft Day.
- All managers must commit to the league their participation in the following season by July 1st
- League payouts for winners will be completed on Draft Day.
- A player drop from a roster is effective immediately.
- All protests (score or trade) must be made within 48 hours of the posting being protested.
- Emergency Rule – if a manager has an emergency, the league will submit a line-up(s) for the manager. Ex., A former manager unbeknownst to anyone, became ill with Encephalitis, and the league inserted proper line-ups including those that were missed.
-
RANKING TIEBREAKERS:
1. Head to Head winner
2. Most Wins
3. Accumulated total scores versus your tied opponent (basically your total score in the 5 or 6 games played) where the highest total accumulated score wins.
4. Coin Toss



13 – TEAM OWNERSHIP CONTRACTION & EXPANSION

13.1 - When a team’s owner drops out of the league, that team is dissolved and all players go into free agency in the offseason. Any team quitting during the season is frozen and all players will be released in the offseason.

13.2 - IF YOU HAVE A MANAGER WISHING TO JOIN THE LEAGUE, PLEASE NOMINATE HIM/HER ON THE WEB SITE. PLEASE PROVIDE A BACKGROUND DESCRIPTION.

Voting for new team managers will be conducted via email and sent out from the commissioner.

1. You nominate a person that is your vote. It cannot be changed unless the person withdraws.
2. One vote per the manager of your choice (no 2nds/3rds/etc.).
3. Voting is to be forwarded to the Commissioner.
4. The Commissioner will exchange their votes with the assistant Commissioner prior to the start of voting.
5. A simple majority must be 'hit' for a new manager to be chosen. If there is more than 2 new individuals vying, for example 3, and there isn't a majority, then the last person is taken off the ballot and a re-vote with the remaining 2 individuals.
6. Final vote totals will only be given out once a majority is hit so no one is influenced.
7. Nominations are allowed up until voting commences.
8. This process will end on the 2ND day at 11 am EST after the Managers bid process has ended. The date will be clearly posted after the 'bidding'.

13.8 – When expanding the new expansion teams will be given a blank roster and $60 per year. They may make no transactions prior to the draft. Welcome to the AHL, enjoy drafting 25 players and a goalie.








14 – TRADE DISPUTES

14.1 – If you wish to dispute a trade, place an objection on the website within 48hrs. No objections will be heard after 48hrs have passed.

14.2 – The commissioner will contact the person making the objection and ask why he feels the trade is not valid. (Minor impact trades such as "I think that they should have given and extra $1.00" won't be considered.)

14.3 – For most trades the commissioner will consult with the league trade guidelines as a reference. Sometimes a trade may be in a grey area of the guidelines that the guidelines cannot properly assess a fair value, to which the commissioner using fair and sound judgement will determine if the values ascertained in the trade are reasonable and then make a decision to either allow the trade or cancel the trade. Commissioner decisions will be final and not to be questioned or debated, move on and try again.

14.4 – A league Guideline will be provided to every manager to determine what is a reasonable trade value for players you wish to trade to another team.
The league guidelines will have detailed info in regards to player trade values and offers an explanation how to determine the value of players being traded.

14.5 – The Commissioner will post his decision in the TRADE DISPUTES forum

14.6 - TRADE DISPUTE forum is multiyear and intended to keep a running track of these items that is easily reviewable.
14.7 – In the case of a trade dispute, the losing party in the dispute will be deducted $2.00 in pool money for the next year – Be sure that your trade is fair or your dispute is sound before you post!


15 – LEAGUE COMMISSIONER

15.1 – The league will vote on the first commissioner of the pool, as well as a vice -commissioner and junior commissioner.

15.2 – A commissioner serves a term of no more than 3 years at which time vice commissioner will take over for a 3 year term. The junior commissioner will then take the roll of the vice commissioner and a new junior commissioner will be voted on.

15.3 - The old commissioner may rotate to the junior commissioner if no one else is interested in the position.